SERVICES

An overview of services we offer for your church, theater, museum, concert hall, or home. Click on the links below to see and learn more.

 

RESTORATION

Restoration is often a much more cost effective solution than replacement and is a service we provide nationwide.

TUNING

Bi-annual tunings ensure your organ is ready for the Easter and Christmas seasons, or a high profile wedding or funeral.

RelEATHERING

We offer releathering of pouchboards, reservoirs, tremulants, Swell engines, and all chest components.

ADDITIONS and New Organs

Enlarging your instrument by adding new ranks of pipes, from a single flute to an en chamade trumpet.  Or if your current instrument is no longer meeting your needs, or you are replacing an electronic or digital imitation organ with a real pipe organ.

CONSOLE UPGRADES

If your current console is failing and no longer functioning properly, or you need more pistons or memory levels, there are several options.

 

GENERAL MAINTENACE

On site repairs, blower motor maintenance, and tarping an organ properly to protect from construction dust during building renovations are a few examples.

Sub CONTRACTING TO OTHER BUILDERS

If you are short staffed and need an extra skilled set of hands on a removal or installation, I am available as a private contractor.

 

Restorations

Depending on the size of the instrument, there are several hundred to many thousands of moving leather pneumatics and parts inside a pipe organ. As with any natural perishable material, the life of leather components is limited. As the decades pass, the leather wears and eventually needs to be replaced. Just like a car, or any machine, the engine will not last forever and will at some point be rebuilt to keep the machine going for the foreseeable future.

Pouchboards, reservoirs, tremolos, and swell shade motors all contain leather that deteriorates over many years. They need to have the old leather removed, cleaned, refinished, and have new leather applied. Not only are the aesthetics of the components a factor, but the materials used are exponentially more important. No synthetic glues or materials are used in our restorations and repairs in keeping with our builders association standards.

Specializing in both church and theater instruments, we have the unique experience of restoration work on several high profile historic instruments. From the reservoirs of the E. M. Skinner organ at the Detroit Masonic Temple, to full restoration of regulators and chests on the Fisher Wurlitzer organ in Detroit.

We offer complete restorations on instruments, or just certain divisions or components as they need it. Reservoirs and pouchboards are the most common items needing restoration, but sometimes pipework will also require attention from sagging or bending. We offer our restoration service across the entire United States, not just Michigan.

See some of our Before and Afters below

Restoring a previous restoration of a 1926 E. M. Skinner reservoir for the historic Masonic Temple in Detroit, Michigan.

Restoring a previous restoration of a 1926 E. M. Skinner reservoir for the historic Masonic Temple in Detroit, Michigan.

a 1920's Swell Engine from an Aeolian Residence organ in Detroit before restoration.

The same Aeolian Swell Engine nearing completion.

A 1911 E. M. Skinner static reservoir before restoration for a church in Bay City, Michigan.

The same 1911 Skinner reservoir completed and ready for installation in Bay City, Michigan.

A Wurlitzer Winker regulator before restoration.

The restored winker, with a new bottom fabricated as the original had seen water damage and warped.

A neglected Wurlitzer reservoir.

The same reservoir, restored.

A Wurlitzer Air Control Board and valve bed before restoration.

The restored Wurlitzer Air Control Board with the restored reservoir for a client in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Two Wurlitzer Primary valve boxes, showing a restored unit next to an original.

Two reservoirs from the great E. M. Skinner organ at the Detroit Masonic Temple, with an unrestored unit next to one we recently completed.

Two reservoirs from the great E. M. Skinner organ at the Detroit Masonic Temple, with an unrestored unit next to one we recently completed.

A Very rare E. M. Skinner wedge bellows from Opus 266, circa 1916 before and after restoration

A Very rare E. M. Skinner wedge bellows from Opus 266, circa 1916 before and after restoration

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A restored E. M. Skinner double primary with all new leather, gaskets, valves, and lead tubing

 

Tuning a high pressure French Horn

tUning

Generally the most common service on a pipe organ is a bi-annual tuning done before Easter and Christmas. As the temperatures stabilize, so does the metal in the pipes. This is the most ideal time to tune the organ, as it will hold much longer than if done during the extreme heat or cold of the seasons. We offer anything from a total repitching of an instrument if needed, to touching up of reed pipes and certain capped ranks, and anything in between. 

The 2002 Nichols & Simpson organ at St. Augistine Cathedral in Kalamazoo that is under our care

Additions

One of the great advantages of a pipe organ is the ability to make changes and additions as time and finances permit. Many new organs are built with “prepared stops”, i.e.stops that were wanted at the time of construction, but the finances may not have been available then. Another common addition that is wanted are large solo reeds or 8’ foundation stops that were not included in most of the pipe organs built from 1960 to the late 1980’s. We offer additions to any instrument, be it an Oboe or another string, right up to a horizontal Trompette en Chamade or a 32’ Contra Bombarde.

Revoicing organ stops is the process of not replacing, but of altering the existing pipework to create a more desirable tone quality. It can be done on virtually any set of pipes in an instrument. Revoicing of flue pipes, such as flute and principal stops, can “take the edge off”, so to speak, and create a much warmer, fuller tone and increase the power of the sound as well, if desired. The same thing can be done to reed stops in order to make a rounder, smoother tone.

Adding 8' basses to an existing 4' rank to give a small Moller organ an extra stop and more foundation.

Assisting Scott Smith Pipe Organs in the addition of a new Trompette En Chamade in Kalamazoo, Michigan to a 1965 Casavant organ.

NEW ORGANS

If either your current instrument is no longer meeting the needs of your congregation, or you are desiring to upgrade from an electronic organ, we can build you a completely new pipe organ. When it comes to a new instrument, the sky is quite literally the limit. Every aspect is completely customized to suit your tastes and needs. Whether it be a modest 10 rank instrument to a substantial organ of 40 or more ranks, we would welcome the privilege to build you a new organ.

 

Console Upgrades

We offer anything from a completely new console for your instrument, to upgrading existing consoles and outfitting them with new Solid State relays and new pistons and drawknobs or stop tabs. From increasing memory levels for organists to play back systems and transposers, the sky is the limit with your console.

Upgrading a Casavant organ from 8 levels of memory to 64.

Installing a new Peterson relay to replace the original after this 1970 Moller was enlarged and expaneded.

The new 4 manual Skinner Style console we speced and designed for Scott Smith Pipe Organs Opus 3 in Saginaw, Michigan, outfitted with a new Peterson ICS-4000.

The new control panel installed. Upgrading from an older system with 8 levels of memory to 64 levels greatly increases the capability of the instrument especially for churches with multiple organists. It allows each musician to save and store their personal settings.

Adjusting valves on a reservoir on the historic Barton Organ at the State Theater in Saginaw

General Maintenance

Our service area includes the entire state of Michigan including the northern counties and the entire Upper Peninsula, as well as northern Indiana and northern Ohio. From oiling blower motors, and making on site repairs on your instrument, to sealing off the organ chambers to keep dust out during sanctuary or building construction and renovation projects, and any other problem that may arise on your instrument.

You may also need your organ removed, relocated, or installed. We offer these service across the United States.

Sealing off a pipe chamber and wrapping and tarping pipes to protect the organ from construction dust during a sanctuary renovation project. Keeping dust and particles out of a pipe organ during these kinds of projects is imperative to keep a pipe organ functioning without ciphers.

Making some on site repairs to the historic Moller organ in the lobby of the Detroit Fox Theater